The first same-sex marriage in the U.S., May 17, 2004

On this day in 2004, Marcia Kadish, 56, and Tanya McCloskey, 52, of Malden, Mass., were married at Cambridge City Hall in Massachusetts — becoming the first legally married same-sex partners in the United States.

Over that day, 77 other same-sex couples were wed across the state, while hundreds more applied for marriage licenses. Only a handful of protests materialized.

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On Nov. 18, 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Court had found the state’s ban on same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional. It gave the state Legislature 180 days to change it. Citing the state constitution’s ban on the creation of second-class citizens, the court ruled that the state could not deny the protections, benefits and obligations conferred by civil marriage to two individuals of the same sex who wish to marry. Legislative efforts to amend the state’s constitution to ban same-sex marriage, while recognizing civil unions, were defeated.

In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act, denying federal recognition to same-sex marriages. President George W. Bush later broached the idea of a constitutional amendment to define marriage as the union of a man and woman.

On Feb. 23, 2011, the Obama administration said discrimination based on sexual orientation is unconstitutional. While it will continue to enforce the Defense of Marriage Act’s provisions, it will no longer defend challenges to its constitutionality in court. The issue is headed to the Supreme Court.

Now, four states besides Massachusetts — Connecticut, Iowa, New Hampshire and Vermont — as well as the District of Columbia grant same-sex marriage licenses, while 41 others bar them, either by statute or under their constitutions. New York, Rhode Island and Maryland recognize same-sex marriages but do not grant these couples marriage licenses.